The chilling video above is from yesterday’s shark attack at Manhattan Beach, California. A 7-foot great white shark was caught in a fishing line near a group of long distance swimmers, eventually biting into Steven Robles after he too got tangled in the line. From Huffington Post:
The attack started when a person fishing off the Manhattan Beach Pier hooked the shark and spent over 30 minutes trying to reel it in, which Flores said, made the shark grow agitated.
The victim was in a group of long-distance swimmers about 300 yards off the beach, where Flores said the shark bit the man.
The fisherman cut the line and a surfer put the injured swimmer on his board, taking the victim ashore with the help of Los Angeles County lifeguards. Paramedics began treating the man.
As you can see from the video above, it seemed to almost be a bit of a laugh to start for the fishermen involved. It wasn’t long before reality set in though and everyone was yelling for people to get out of the water. From The Independent:
A lifeguard at the beach said that it’s not uncommon for sharks to get as close as it did, but that this case was unique because it was agitated.
“He was trying to get off the line,” Tracy Lizotte told the Los Angeles Times. “That’s where they live. It’s their home,” he added.
Though the shark swam off back into the wild 20 minutes later, a moratorium was temporarily placed on entering the water and fishing has been halted until Tuesday as a precaution.
Hard to say if this will change fishing practices in the area. I know I wouldn’t be going near the beach for a long time. The same can’t be said for the other folks at the beach:
(Via Huffington Post / The Independent / Loudlabs News)